Method of breeding robot pet using on-line and off-line systems simultaneously

ABSTRACT

The present invention provides a method of breeding robot pet using on-line and off-line systems simultaneously, in which digital food, ampule, or game data are downloaded from the game server through the Internet for breeding a robot pet, playing games using a robot pet, and mating a robot pet.  
     A user who owns a robot pet can access to the game server of breeding robot pet of the present invention through the Internet using a user terminal such as personal computer and then download food, ampule for curing sickness, games playable using the robot pet, songs, etc. from the game server through the user terminal. The robot pet grows older with time if the robot pet is timely supplied with a predetermined amount of food With increase of its age, the robot pet would serve a better function and can download new and age-limited games.  
     The game server further provides a community service which enables the owners of robot pet to exchange information with each other.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0001] 1. Field of the Invention

[0002] The present invention relates to a method of breeding a robot petusing on-line and off-line systems simultaneously

[0003] 2. Description of the Prior Art

[0004] In recent years, games in which a digital pet is bred up like areal pet have been developed. A game called ‘Tamagotchi’ is one of thefront-runners, which is a digital pet housed in a game machine andsupposed to be raised by its owner, who should feed it well and playwith it as if breeding a real pet Tamagotchi makes responses as a realpet does in various situations and has functions in which it might fallsick or even die if it is not carefully looked after.

[0005] Following Tamagotchi, such games in which a digital pet is raisednot on a game machine but on the Internet have been developed Toelaborate, users raise a digital pet like a real pet after having madethe digital pet in a specific site on the Internet. In such games,multiple users each raise a digital pet in the same site on theInternet, so that the users can play games with their pets or make theirpets run a race with other pets.

[0006] Further, the lately-developed Digimon which is a game of breedingcyber character using a game machine is similar to Tamagotchi in thelight of breeding a cyber character using a game machine However,Digimon is equipped with an additional function in which a battle gameor the like can be played between two cyber characters using two gamemachines

[0007] The present invention has been conceived by considering theabove, the object of which is to provide a method of breeding robot petusing on-line and off-line systems simultaneously

[0008] It is a further object of the present invention to provide amethod of breeding robot pet in which a variety of functions can beadded continuously.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0009] The present invention provides a method of breeding robot petusing on-line and off-line systems simultaneously, wherein digital food,ampule, or game data are downloaded from the game server through theInternet for breeding a robot pet, playing games using a robot pet, andmating a robot pet.

[0010] The method of breeding robot pet according to the presentinvention uses a robot pet comprising a data interface for communicationof data with external devices and a memory in which the data and programabout growth and behavior can be stored, an Internet compatible userterminal which allows communication with robot pet; and, a game serverof breeding robot pet which is accessible through the Internet using theuser terminal and allows specific data which is relevant to breedingrobot pet to be transmitted to the robot pet through the Internet andthe user terminal. The method comprises the step of accessing the gameserver using a user terminal; the step of initializing the robot pet bytransmitting initialization data from the game server to the robot petthrough the user terminal; the step of requesting download of data forbreeding robot pet from the game server using the user terminal; thestep of transmitting the requested data from the game server to therobot pet via the user terminal; and the step of activating the robotpet's specific functions associated with the data, in compliance withthe receipt of the data.

[0011] Here, the data for breeding robot pet can be the robot pet's fooddata and the power of robot pet which keeps the robot pet beingvitalized can be increased by a predetermined amount by receiving thefood data. Further, the data for breeding robot pet can be the ampuledata for curing sickness of robot pet and the affected state of robotpet can be removed by receiving the ampule data Still further, the datafor breeding robot pet can be the game data which allow the robot pet tocarry out a specific game and the functions of robot pet associated withthe game data can be activated by receiving the game data.

[0012] In the step of transmitting data for breeding robot pet from thegame server to the robot pet, it is preferred that the digital data aretransmitted by the way that a specific area in the display part of userterminal is made to blink with a predetermined brightness and the robotpet recognize the digital data by sensing the blinking.

[0013] Further, in the step of transmitting data for breeding robot petfrom the game server to the robot pet, a certain rate of commission canbe charged for the transmission of data.

[0014] Another method of breeding robot pet according to the presentinvention uses a robot pet comprising a data interface for datacommunication with external devices and a memory in which the data andprogram about growth and behavior can be stored, an Internet compatibleuser terminal which allows communication with robot pet; a game serverof breeding robot pet which is accessible through the Internet using theuser terminal and allows specific data which is relevant to breedingrobot pet to be transmitted to the robot pet through the Internet andthe user terminal; and, a database which is linked to the game serverand stores information of the robot pet, the information including therobot pet's age and power which indicates the state of the robot pet Thespecific data imply food data which keep the robot pet vitalized andampule data which heal disease of the robot pet And, the methodcomprises the step of varying the power of the robot pet at everytransmission of food or ampule data by letting the power be a functionwhose parameters are frequencies of transmission of food and ampule dataand then storing the varied value of power in the database, and, thestep of increasing age of the robot pet if the power value of the robotpet is not less than a predetermined one and then storing the increasedage in the database

[0015] Here, the method can further comprise a step wherein the gameserver transmits the increased age to the robot pet after storing theage in the database

[0016] Furthermore, the database stores the latest time when the fooddata have been transmitted, so that, after the step of varying the powerof the robot pet and storing the varied value of power in the database,a further step can be included wherein the game server varies the powerof robot pet at every transmission of food data, by letting the power bea function whose parameter is the time difference between the currenttime and the latest time of food transmission, and then stores thevaried value of power in the database.

[0017] Another method of breeding robot pet according to the presentinvention uses a robot pet comprising a data interface for communicationof data with external devices and a memory in which the data and programabout growth and behavior can be stored; an Internet compatible userterminal which allows communication with robot pet; a game server ofbreeding robot pet which is accessible through the Internet using theuser terminal and allows specific data associated with the functions ofthe robot pet to be transmitted to the robot pet through the Internetand the user terminal, and, a database which is linked to the gameserver and stores information of the robot pet including age andsexuality of the robot pet. The specific data associated with thefunctions of robot pet imply game data which allow the robot pet tocarry out a specific game and the game data include such information asthe age and/or sexuality which is permitted for playing a specific game.And, the method comprises the step of accessing the game server usingthe user terminal and then requesting download of game data; the step ofcomparing the information of the permitted age and/or sexuality involvedin the requested game data with the information of the robot pet's ageand/or sexuality stored in the database; the step of transmitting gamedata from the game server to the robot pet through the user terminal ifthe information of robot pet's age and/or sexuality meets conditionsfrom the information of the permitted age and/or sexuality, and the stepof activating specific functions of the robot pet which are associatedwith the game data, in compliance with the receipt of the game data

[0018] Here, the method can further comprise a step wherein a messageimplying that the requested game data cannot be downloaded is displayedthrough the user terminal if the information of the robot pet's ageand/or sexuality does not meet conditions from the information of thepermitted age and/or sexuality.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0019]FIG. 1 shows overall network connection of the system forembodying the method according to the preferred embodiment of thepresent invention.

[0020]FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating hardware construction ofthe robot pet according to the preferred embodiment of the presentinvention.

[0021]FIG. 3 is an example of initial screen which is provided to theuser in the game service according to the preferred embodiment of thepresent invention

[0022]FIG. 4 is an example of download screen which is provided to theuser in the game service according to the preferred embodiment of thepresent invention

[0023]FIG. 5 is a flow chart illustrating the process of growth of robotpet in the method according to the preferred embodiment of the presentinvention.

[0024]FIG. 6 is a flow chart illustrating the process in which theage-limited and the sex-limited games are downloaded in the methodaccording to the preferred embodiment of the present invention

[0025]FIG. 7 is an exemplified screen of the community service which isprovided to users in the game service according to the preferredembodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0026] Below, a preferred embodiment of the present invention will bedescribed in detail, making reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0027]FIG. 1 shows overall network connection of the system forembodying the method of breeding robot pet in the preferred embodimentaccording to the present invention.

[0028] The system for breeding robot pet according to the presentinvention comprises game server 300 which provides a game service ofbreeding robot pet and database 400 which stores information of eachrobot pet. A user can access to game server 300 through the Internet 500using his terminal 200 Such user terminal 200 as is capable of accessinggame server 300 may include a personal computer, PDA (Personal DigitalAssistant), mobile phone, etc The user can make his robot pet 100communicate with game server 300 through his terminal 200.

[0029] Now, a description of construction of robot pet 100 will be givenin detail, referring to FIG. 2 First, robot pet 100 comprises a datacommunication interface 180 for data communication with game server 300.A variety of means can be used for data communication interface 180,including infrared communication interface, acousticcoupledcommunication interface, wireless communication interface such as Bluetooth, wired communication interface such as RS-232C or USB which uses awired connection means, and a communication interface using light senseGame server 300 can be accessible through user terminal 200 such ascomputer, cellular telephone, PDA, etc. which is connectable to theInternet by using the above means

[0030] Further, without using computer, cellular telephone, PDA, etc, acommunication means such as modem, LAN interface, etc. can be providedto robot pet 100 so as to directly access to game server 300 through theInternet.

[0031] In case of using an infrared communication interface, wirelesscommunication interface or the like, the infrared communicationinterface, wireless communication interface, etc. should be pre-providedto user terminal 200 which is computer, cellular telephone, PDA, etc.Then, a user can make transmission and reception of data between histerminal 200 and robot pet 100 via data communication interface 180after having accessed to game server 300 through the Internet using histerminal 200 The user can further make data communication with gameserver 300 using his terminal 200 in the Internet environment.

[0032] Robot pet 100 further comprises a memory 190 for storing variousprograms, ID of robot pet 100, current power of robot pet 100, etc Suchmemory 190 may include a nonvolatile memory such as ROM (Read-OnlyMemory), EEPROM (Electrically Erasable Programmable ROM), flash memory,etc and a volatile memory such as DRAM (Dynamic Random Access Memory),SRAM (Static Random Access Memory), etc. Further, CD-ROM or magneticmemory device can be used as a subordinate memory device.

[0033] Further, robot pet 100 is provided with a motor driving part 120,which enables robot pet 100 to move back and forth, left and right.Infrared generating and sensing part 130 is used for robot pet 100 toavoid impact by sensing objects automatically while moving or to movewhere it intends to go. In case that it is unnecessary to sense objectsautomatically for modification of the racing track, Infrared generatingand sensing part 130 is not provided.

[0034] Sound sensing part 140 is provided so as for robot pet 100 todetect sounds and to make a response consistent therewith. For example,robot pet 100 can be made to move or to stop when a person claps.Further, if sound sensing part 140 is provided together with thefunction of voice recognition, it is possible to make robot pet 100respond to a human command

[0035] Mode setting part 150 is used for setting a behavior mode ofrobot pet 100. For example, robot pet 100 can be made to play acompetition game with another robot pet by setting a competition gamemode, or can be made to play about by itself by setting an exercisemode. Mode setting part 150 can be embodied by using a typical button, atouch-screen with display part 160, or an infrared-employing remotecontroller, but its embodiment is not limited to a specific method.

[0036] Display part 160 shows the state of robot pet 100 by using LED(Light Emitting Diode) or LCD (Liquid Crystal Display), etc. or sendsuser a message which is helpful to user with respect to using functionsof robot pet 100 Further, display part 160 can also be used when theuser wants to chat with robot pet 100.

[0037] Sound generating part 170 is used for robot pet 100 to send amessage to its user. For example, when robot pet 100 is hungry, itbegins whining or it will sing a song when happy. Sound generating part170 comprises a sound generating device such as buzzer, piezo device,speaker, etc and a sound source device such as melody IC, etc

[0038] Control part 110 is preprogrammed to control each of the parts ofrobot pet 100 Control part 110 can be embodied by software usingmicroprocessor or by hardware using logic device.

[0039] Robot pet 100 grows and behaves by receiving food or ampule fromgame server 300. In addition, game server 300 stores a variety of gameswhich are playable using robot pet 100 and the user can play such gamesby downloading the games to his robot pet 100 through his terminal 200after having accessed game server 300 using his terminal 200. There areball-rolling, pushing, racing, etc which can be played using robot pet100. Further, game server 300 can establish additional behaviors ofrobot pet 100 or permissible ranges of games depending on age or power,by using such information which are stored in database 400 as the age orthe power of robot pet 100.

[0040] Such information as stored in database 400 may further comprisethe information of user who is the owner of robot pet or the detailedinformation of robot pet, etc. including the above-mentioned informationPersonal information such as user ID, password, name, identificationcard number, address, e-mail address, telephone number, etc may beincluded in the information of user As for the detailed information ofrobot pet, such information as serial no. (product no ) of robot pet,ID, age, sexuality, name, power, time of the latest download offood/ampule, games or songs housed in robot pet, etc. may be included.

[0041] Now, the process of breeding robot pet and of playing games withrobot pet using the method pursuant to the present invention will bedescribed in detail below

[0042] First, a user who owns robot pet registers himself as a memberafter having accessed the game server which provides the method as perthe present invention. The robot pet has a predetermined amount of foodtherein at the time of purchase However, the robot pet should obtain thenecessary food by downloading it from the game server because itconsumes food as it behaves. Accordingly, in order to make his robot petgrow continuously and to enjoy off-line games using his robot pet, theuser should download the necessary food data or other data from the gameserver, for which, the user should first register himself as a memberafter having accessed the game server. Then, he can use such downloadservice. On the other hand, it is common that owners of real petorganize a circle, in which they exchange information of their pets ormake their pets have a mate. Likewise, the present invention can providea community service in which the owners of robot pet can meet togetherto exchange information. For the community service, members-only systemis an indispensable requirement.

[0043] In order to join in, a user should first register his user ID anda password and then register his robot pet. If a user who owns pluralrobot pets wishes to join, he may have two user IDs, or join with oneuser ID and then register plural robot pets. In case of choosing theformer method, one user ID corresponds to one robot pet, so that therobot pets can be identified by using the user IDs

[0044] It is also possible to employ a method such as to makepre-registration not obligatory on users and allow non-members todownload necessary data, while at the same time providing additionalservice such as community service for members. In this case, the gameserver only stores the information of robot pet using serial no.(product no.) of each robot pet or its ID, with no storage of userinformation.

[0045] An exemplified initial screen of service which briefly showsfunctions provided by the game server according to the present inventionis illustrated in FIG. 3 As can be seen in FIG. 3, ‘register’ menu 310and ‘how to use’ menu 320 are provided, and also, 'shopping menu 330 isprovided so that a user can access the game server for online purchaseof robot pet or its peripheral devices (game tools, etc.) The mostimportant function that can be provided by the game server is ‘download’340 service, of which a detailed description will be given below. A‘community’ menu 350 is also provided for community activities asaforementioned

[0046] After having registered himself as a member by accessing the gameserver, a user can download food, ampule, or games from the game server.

[0047] An exemplified screen provided to user when he selects ‘download’340 menu in FIG. 3, is illustrated in FIG. 4. First, the robot petshould be initialized prior to the first download The initialization canbe carried out by clicking ‘initialization’ button 410 provided in ascreen as in FIG. 4. When clicking the button, robot pet 100 and gameserver 300 communicate with each other through user terminal 200 andgame server 300 receives information of robot pet 100 and stores them indatabase 400. Then, game server establishes an environment in whichrobot pet 100 can download food or games, etc. In addition to the firstinitialization, further initialization should be carried out in a casewhere the specification of user terminal 200 is changed or thecommunication method is changed between user terminal 200 and robot pet100

[0048] Once the download environment has been established by completionof initialization, the user can download food or games to his robot pet.If the desired item is clicked in FIG. 4, the selected item is to beready for download.

[0049] It is feasible to prevent the selected item from being downloadedin case that the robot pet cannot accommodate the item. For example, theamount of food that a robot pet can possess at a time is limited. Hence,no more food can be downloaded in a state that the robot pet already hasthe maximum amount of food As to songs, the songs that are alreadystored in the robot pet can be prevented from being downloaded sincesuch songs are unnecessary to download. As for games, some games can beprevented from downloading depending on age of robot pet since games canbe provided in a limitative manner depending on age of robot pet Ampulesmay be downloaded only when the robot pet has caught a disease (forexample, when a robot pet has become sick with no food provided).

[0050] Such restrictions with downloading as aforementioned can beplaced after finding out about the state of robot pet by communicatingwith the robot pet Or else, the restrictions can be placed on the partof recipient, to wit, on the part of the robot pet after the game servertransmits the requested data to the robot pet with no restriction

[0051] Among the download items in FIG. 4, “Love Diti” item provides amating service for the robot pets of different sexuality with eachother.

[0052] On the other hand, a predetermined rate of commission can becharged for each download item whenever the food, ampule, new functions,songs, etc are requested for download.

[0053] As described above, a user accesses the game server toinitialize, raise, and cure his robot pet and to enjoy online/offlinegames using his robot pet by downloading the necessary items. Since therobot pet consumes food as it behaves, the user should access the gameserver and download the food whenever needed. Further, the game servercontinues to register new games or songs and then provides them tousers, so that their robot pets can continuously be equipped withadditional functions.

[0054] Further, a robot pet can grow through care administered to therobot pet by its caretaker such as feeding, playing, etc. Now, thegrowth algorithm of robot pet will be described below A robot pet canhave its own growth algorithm in which it grows automatically usinghardware or software housed therein. However, it is preferred that thegame server controls the growth of robot pet using the information ofrobot pet. Below, a description of the latter will be given

[0055] A flow chart showing growth of robot pet is illustrated in FIG. 5Robot pets can grow in various manners, but basically, the growth ofrobot pet is associated with the amount of food downloaded If a robotpet is not fed in a timely manner, it will catch a disease. Onceaffected by a disease, the robot pet should first be cured using ampuleprior to being fed. As such, growth of robot pet is further associatedwith the amount of ampule downloaded. To elaborate, the age of robot petcan be controlled by such a method wherein the power of robot pet whichis the function of the downloaded amount of food and ampule is firstset, and then, whenever the power reaches a predetermined value k, theage of robot pet is increased; here, if food is successfully downloaded,the power is increased by a predetermined amount Δn, and if ampule isdownloaded, the power is decreased by a predetermined amount Δm.

[0056] As seen in FIG. 5, a user initializes (S520) his robot pet as theneed arises after having accessed (S510) the game server and thendownloads (S530) food Here, if the food is successfully downloaded, apredetermined amount Δn is added (S540) to the power ‘Successfuldownload of food’ means that the food is downloaded to the robot pet ina timely manner Namely, the power will not be increased despite thedownload of food if the robot pet already has the maximum amount of foodor it cannot eat food due to sickness.

[0057] Next, if the user succeeds (S550) in downloading ampule, apredetermined amount Δm is subtracted (S560) from the power. Here, thesubtracted amount Δm is preferred to be larger than the added amount Δn.The same rule is applied to the case of ampule download, so that thepower value is decreased only when the ampule is successfullydownloaded. That is, the downloading of ampule is basically impossible,or, if ever done, cannot decrease the power if the robot pet is in goodstate of health.

[0058] Then, the modified value of power is compared (S570) with thepredetermined value k which is the requirement for increasing the age Asa result of comparison, if the power value is not less than thepredetermined value k, the age of robot pet is increased (S580) by oneyear; otherwise, the former steps are repeatedly taken

[0059] In case that the age is increased, the robot pet can be made tobehave a specific motion consistent with the increase of age. While atthe same time increasing the age by one year, the game server transmitsthe result of such increase to the robot pet for modifying the ageinside the robot pet and making it sing a birthday song or dance forjoy, etc.

[0060] Further, with respect to making robot pet grow, it is desirablethat the more the interaction occurs between the robot pet and itscaretaker, the faster the robot pet grows. Therefore, in addition to theamount of food download, the time interval of food download can be usedas a parameter for increasing the age of robot pet To do this, the gameserver stores the latest time of food download for each robot pet andcounts the time interval to the next download In this regard, however,since robot pets consume their food as their operation, afrequently-behaving robot pet, to wit, the robot pet whose caretakerplays with it frequently, consumes larger amount of food, andaccordingly, the time interval of food download should naturally shortenin comparison with such robot pet as neglected by its caretaker andrarely behaving Therefore, a robot pet in a good deal of behavior has ashorter length of time than a robot pet in no behavior Here, the lengthof time indicates such time as taken to reach a predetermined value ofpower after same amount of food has been downloaded. Accordingly,although the growth of robot pet is controlled only by using thefrequencies of food and ampule download as aforementioned, it isappreciated that the growth of robot pet so controlled reflects theinteraction of robot pet with its caretaker.

[0061] Further, the game server provides a variety of online/offlinegames playable using robot pet, some of which are provided in alimitative manner depending on age or sexuality of robot pet. Toelaborate, a robot pet comes to behave more agilely and improve itscapability of accommodating inputs from outside as it grows older, sothat there should be provided such games as cannot be played till therobot pet reaches a certain level of capability. Especially, the gameswith respect to mating should not be made usable before the robot petreaches a certain age. Furthermore, robot pets can be made to usedifferent programs depending on their sexuality A description of methodin which download of game is restricted or allowed will be given below.A flow chart of this method is illustrated in FIG. 6.

[0062] First, as in the conventional method of downloading, a userinitializes (S620) his robot pet if necessary after having accessed(S610) the game server Next, the user requests (S630) download of gamesusing his terminal, and the game server checks (S640) if there is agelimit or sex limit involved in the requested games If there is anylimitation, the game server confirms (S650) the age and sexuality of therobot pet whose owner requested download of games, referring to thedatabase. As a result of confirmation, if the robot pet is qualified todownload the games, the game server allows (S660) download of the gamesOtherwise, the game server sends (S670) a message to the effect that therequested games cannot be downloaded (for example, “This game is notallowed to a pet under age 3.” Or “This game is available only to femaleTitis.”, etc.).

[0063] In a case where the age or sexuality of robot pet is not storedin the database, the game server can do the same way as aforementioned,after finding out the age and sexuality of robot pet by communicatingwith the robot pet

[0064] Further, the game server of the present invention can provide acommunity service in which the owners of robot pet can exchangeinformation of their pets or make them mate with other pets

[0065] The community service is available to members of the game serverof the present invention The services provided through community mayencompass news 710, finding a friend 720, finding a mate 730, note 740and chatting 750, etc, as illustrated in FIG. 7.

[0066] While the present invention has been particularly shown anddescribed with reference to the preferred embodiments, it should beunderstood by those skilled in the art that various changes in form anddetail may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scopeof the present invention as defined by the appended claims

[0067] So far as has been described, according to the present invention,a user can online download food or games, etc, breed an offline robotpet, and play games using the robot pet, whereby the interest of userscan be stimulated and the continuous provision of new games andfunctions is possible.

[0068] Further, the profit of the service provider can be secured bycarrying an advertisement, etc, since the growth of robot pet shouldindispensably involve online access to the game server

What is claimed is:
 1. A method of breeding robot pet using a robot petcomprising a data interface for data communication with external devicesand a memory in which the data and program about growth and behavior canbe stored, an Internet compatible user terminal which allowscommunication with said robot pet; and a game server of breeding robotpet which is accessible through the Internet using said user terminaland allows specific data which is relevant to breeding robot pet to betransmitted to said robot pet through the Internet and said userterminal, the method comprising the steps of a) accessing said gameserver using said user terminal, b) initializing said robot pet bytransmitting initialization data from said game server to said robot petthrough said user terminal; c) requesting download of data for breedingrobot pet from said game server using said user terminal, d)transmitting said requested data from said game server to said robot petvia said user terminal; and, e) activating said robot pet's specificfunction associated with said data, in compliance with the receipt ofsaid data.
 2. The method of breeding robot pet as set forth in claim 1,wherein said data for breeding robot pet are food data and said robotpet's power which enables said robot pet to remain vitalized isincreased by a predetermined amount by receiving said food data.
 3. Themethod of breeding robot pet as set forth in claim 1, wherein said datafor breeding robot pet are ampule data for curing disease of said robotpet and the affected state of said robot pet is removed by receivingsaid ampule data.
 4. The method of breeding robot pet as set forth inclaim 1, wherein said data for breeding robot pet are game data whichallow said robot pet to carry out specific games and said robot pet'sspecific functions associated with said game data are activated byreceiving said game data.
 5. The method of breeding robot pet as setforth in claim 1, wherein the digital data are transmitted by the waythat a specific area in the display part of said user terminal is madeto blink with a predetermined brightness and said robot pet canrecognize said digital data in said step d).
 6. The method of breedingrobot pet as set forth in claim 1, wherein a certain rate of commissionis charged for the transmission of data in said step d).
 7. A method ofbreeding robot pet using a robot pet comprising a data interface fordata communication with external devices and a memory in which the dataand pro-ram about growth and behavior can be stored; an Internetcompatible user terminal which allows communication with robot pet, agame server of breeding robot pet which is accessible through theInternet using said user terminal and allows specific data which isrelevant to breeding robot pet to be transmitted to said robot petthrough the Internet and said user terminal, and, a database which islinked to said game server and stores information of said robot pet,said information including said robot pet's age and power whichindicates the state of said robot pet, wherein said specific data arefood data which enable said robot pet to remain vitalized and ampuledata which can cure disease of said robot pet, the method comprising thesteps of: a) said game server varies the power of said robot pet atevery transmission of said food or ampule data by making said power be afunction whose parameters are frequencies of transmission of said foodand ampule data, and then stores the varied value of power in saiddatabase, and, b) said game server increases the age of said robot petand stores the increased age in said database if said power value ofrobot pet is not less than a predetermined value.
 8. The method ofbreeding robot pet as set forth in claim 7, which further comprises astep following said step b), wherein said increased value of age istransmitted from said game server to said robot pet.
 9. The method ofbreeding robot pet as set forth in claim 7, wherein said database storesthe latest time of transmission of food data, the method furthercomprising a step following said step a), wherein said game servervaries the power of said robot pet at every transmission of food data bymaking said power be a function whose parameter is the time differencebetween the current time and said latest time of transmission of fooddata, and then stores the varied value of power in said database.
 10. Amethod of breeding robot pet using a robot pet comprising a datainterface for data communication with external devices and a memory inwhich the data and program about growth and behavior can be stored; anInternet compatible user terminal which allows communication with robotpet, a game server of breeding robot pet which is accessible through theInternet using said user terminal and allows specific data associatedwith the functions of said robot pet to be transmitted to said robot petthrough the Internet and said user terminal, and, a database which islinked to said game server and stores information of said robot petincluding age and sexuality, wherein said specific data associated withthe functions of said robot pet are game data which allow said robot petto carry out a specific game, and said game data include suchinformation as the age and/or sexuality permitted for carrying out saidgame, the method comprising the steps of a) requesting download of saidgame data after having accessed said game server using said userterminal; b) comparing the information of the permitted age and/orsexuality involved in said requested game data with the information ofsaid robot pet's age and/or sexuality stored in said database; c)transmitting said game data from said game server to said robot petthrough said user terminal if said information of robot pet's age and/orsexuality meets conditions from said information of the permitted ageand/or sexuality as a result of said comparison; and, d) activatingspecific functions of said robot pet which are associated with said gamedata, in compliance with the receipt of said game data.
 11. The methodof breeding robot pet as set forth in claim 10, further comprising astep of displaying a message that said game data cannot be downloadedthrough said user terminal if said information of robot pet's age and/orsexuality does not meet conditions from said information of thepermitted age and/or sexuality as a result of said comparison.